November 21 will mark the anniversary of the Son Tay raid.
If you are not familiar with this special operations raid, you should be.
Colonel "Bull" Simons rehearsed the raid so often (~170 times) that, by the time the raid was launched, the American prisoners of war had already been moved.
The plan required some commandos to land inside the compound and fight from the inside of the compound out, but there was a banana tree in the middle of the compound, so they crashed a helicopter in the middle of the compound to get the assaulters where they needed to be, knowing in advance that this helicopter was going to be so damaged in landing that it would not be able to lift off again. The assaulters who landed there were going to have to exfiltrate on a different helicopter.
I heard a participant talk about his role in the raid. He and one of his buddies were tasked to assault through one North Vietnamese barracks building, go out the back door and lay down, pulling security on the next building. Non-Vietnamese (probably Soviet) soldiers came out of that building and started walking towards the Green Berets. The veteran said, "I thought they were asking for ammo. So I gave them some."
The surviving veterans of Son Tay will gather for their 55th and final reunion at Ft. Benning on the anniversary. If you want to meet some courageous men and you're nearby Columbus, Ga., might be your last chance to meet them.
If you are not familiar with this special operations raid, you should be.
Colonel "Bull" Simons rehearsed the raid so often (~170 times) that, by the time the raid was launched, the American prisoners of war had already been moved.
The plan required some commandos to land inside the compound and fight from the inside of the compound out, but there was a banana tree in the middle of the compound, so they crashed a helicopter in the middle of the compound to get the assaulters where they needed to be, knowing in advance that this helicopter was going to be so damaged in landing that it would not be able to lift off again. The assaulters who landed there were going to have to exfiltrate on a different helicopter.
I heard a participant talk about his role in the raid. He and one of his buddies were tasked to assault through one North Vietnamese barracks building, go out the back door and lay down, pulling security on the next building. Non-Vietnamese (probably Soviet) soldiers came out of that building and started walking towards the Green Berets. The veteran said, "I thought they were asking for ammo. So I gave them some."
The surviving veterans of Son Tay will gather for their 55th and final reunion at Ft. Benning on the anniversary. If you want to meet some courageous men and you're nearby Columbus, Ga., might be your last chance to meet them.
